All You Need is Love
by Leto-Foxglove
Summary: Slight AU.  My name is Ryoma Echizen, and I am gay. Unfortunately the world is full of bigots that have a problem with this... I just never would have thought that the people I considered to be my friends would be among them.
1. Stand Tall

**All You Need is Love**

**Chapter one: Making a Stand.**

** My name is Ryoma Echizen, and I am gay. Unfortunately the world is full of bigots that have a problem with this. **

**My first kiss was in the fifth grade. His name was Eric, he had the most adorable puppy dog eyes and I thought that he was my soul mate. It happened one day at recess, we had been hiding under the jungle gym and suddenly he lent forward and pressed his lips against mine. Eric tasted like apple juice, and his lips were chapped but it still was one of the most wonderful moments in my life. Unfortunately, nothing good ever lasts. The playground supervisor saw us kissing and came to pull us apart. She drug us all the way to the school counselor, calling us dirty, nasty children all the way.**

**The school counselor is someone that I will never forget she was a witch like woman whose face was constantly twisted into a sneer. Her gray hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her hooked nose appeared to be particularly menacing. Honestly she reminded me a little too much of a witch. For almost two hours she kept us in her stuffy office telling us what we were doing was wrong that it was a sin against god and that we were both going to go to hell if we didn't change our ways. **

**By time she finally called our parents both me and Eric were bawling our eyes out. I didn't understand what was so wrong. I loved Eric, what was wrong with that.**

**My mom goes there ten minutes later red in the face and panting. I think she ran all the way to the school. She entered the office looking so worried. She asked the counselor what was wrong. What had happened? Was Ryoma alright?**

**The old witch took one look at my mother and said this: "Mrs. Echizen your son is a fagot." **

**It got so quiet in that small office you could've heard a pin drop. I remember be so scared, I had no idea what it meant to be a fagot but from the lecture she had given me and Eric I knew that it was something bad, and I was so afraid that my mom would hate me. I remember starting to cry and my mom just stood there staring at the counselor. **

"**What is wrong with you?" She suddenly screamed at the counselor, startling both of us. "How dare you say something like that about a little boy? What gives you the right to say something like that?"**

**The witch looked so shocked when my mom said that. Her face twisted even more then it was before. "Mrs. Echizen I don't think you understand the current situation. The supervisor caught your son and another boy kissing."**

"**So what." Mom had on her court face. The look that she always had on before she went to win a case. The face that she had on when she knew the person in front of her was complete scum and was going to prove it. **

"**Mrs. Echizen, what Ryoma was doing was wrong and immoral and will not be tolerated at this school."**

"**Let me get this straight. Was it wrong and immoral that he was kissing another student? Or was it that he was kissing another boy?"**

**I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable; all I wanted to do was craw into a hole and never come out again. I wished me and Eric had never kissed. And at the same time I wished that I knew why it had been so wrong to do so. I had seen other students kissing before and they hadn't ever gotten into trouble. None of them had been called fagots and had their parents called in before. Why me? Why was what I had done so wrong?**

"**If it hadn't been another boy we wouldn't be having this conversation would we Mrs. Echizen." The witch spoke slowly, as if she thought mom was stupid or something.**

"**I see. Ms. Chyme we apparently have a problem."**

"**I can recommend several therapists that will be able to fix him. I can get you their numbers right away it you want."**

"**That's not what I meant Ms. Chyme. I wasn't aware that I had enrolled my son in a school that endorsed discrimination against the students. I wasn't aware that this school victimized young students. And I wasn't aware that I trusted my son's safety to a cruel old Hag.?"**

**That's when I knew that everything was going to be alright. That there was nothing wrong with me. That my mom didn't hate me and that yes my school counselor was in fact an evil witch. Mom reamed her out for another ten minutes and I watched in awe as the old witch turned seven different shades of purple before mom grabbed my hand and together we left the building. We went out for ice cream and mom told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with loving other boys and if anyone had a problem with it they were ignorant and intolerant and no matter what anyone said there was absolutely nothing wrong with me. **

**We went home and as I cleaned up mom explained what had happened to my old man. The first thing he asked me when I came downstairs was "was he cute?" **

**I never went back to that school. Mom had me pulled out and transferred. I never got to see Eric again either. Unfortunately, Eric's parents weren't as accepting and took the old witch up on the offer to have him fixed. I was sad but I had learned an important lesson that day. At the age of nine I learned that adults could be cruel. That people didn't always like what was different. That day I learned what it was like for someone to hate me for just being me. But I also learned that I have the right and I have that responsibility to stand up for myself, and to stand up for others when they were being victimized. I never wanted to feel like I was wrong for being me ever again. It was a horrible feeling, and I didn't want anyone else to have to experience it either.**

**This happened almost four years ago. Since then I have realized that yes I am gay, and I am proud of it. But today I realized that some people might not be okay with it. I never thought that Momo-sempai would be the type to go around dissing homosexuals. I never thought the person that I was beginning to consider as my best friend would be so homophobic and I never thought that I would face this kind of problem in my middle school tennis club. **

**Momo and some other second years were hooting and hollering about how they had spent last night tormenting some poor kid for being gay. Some of the things that came out of their mouths were so horrible and so cruel. And I couldn't help but feel sorry for this poor kid that had faced all this cruelty on his own. Some of the other members joined in and laughed along with them. Some looked away awkwardly and pretended not to hear. Others just completely ignored them. I never thought that Tezuka-bucho would be the type of person to stand by and watch discrimination go on. Then again I never thought that Momo was the kind of guy to dish it out so heavily. I guess that's what people mean when they say you can't trust first impressions.**

**But the thing that hit me hardest was the look on Kikumaru-sempai's face, and the way Oishi-sempai gripped his hand tightly. They both looked uncomfortable and somewhere deep underneath I could tell that they were both terrified. At that moment I truly hated Momo-sempai, I hated him for reminding me of that old counselor that wanted me fixed, I hated him for what he had done to that poor kid and I hated him for what he was doing to Kikumaru and Oishi. Before I knew what I was doing I had walked over to their giggling group of heartless hyenas stopping right in front of the ring leader. I stood right in front of Momo-sempai and he grinned gleefully down at me.**

"**Here to join the party Echizen?" he asked me.**

**The entire team was staring at us, and all I wanted to do was slug him in the face. I remember the humiliation that I felt that day when that cruel old witch was so certain that there was something wrong with me. And suddenly I can see a stunning resemblance between Momo and her. They have the same cruelty in their eyes. **

**Out of the corner of my eye I can see Kikumaru-sempai's crestfallen expression and the grim set to Oishi-sempai's. I can tell that they think that I'm about to join in on the reindeer games. And why shouldn't they, what with the way everyone else is acting. I can see Tezuka-bucho looking stern and I find it in myself to hate him just a little as well, because he has the power to end this. Just one word from him and it would all stop. He not saying anything is just like him saying that he supports them; it's just like if he was over there laughing along with them. It's like he's saying that what they did to that kid was okay and what they are putting Kikumaru- sempai and Oishi- sempai through right now is okay. For all I know that might be exactly what he thinks, but I don't know, I can't read his mind. All that I know is that he's not doing anything.**

**I look Momo dead in the eyes, I'm using that stare that mom used all those years ago for me. I wonder if he has any idea what I'm about to do? Probably not, he doesn't seem like the type to read too deeply into things.**

**I clench my fists and think about how much I want to hit him and I begin.**

"**Hey Momo-sempai guess what?" I asked him trying my hardest to keep my voice level. **

**I waited until he asked 'what' before I continued.**

"**I'm gay."**

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AN: This is the first story that I have published here. I would appreciate comments and constructive criticism.

This story will be continued (I'm not just going to leave it there).

All events and characters in this story are fictional. I do not own Prince of Tennis, I am only borrowing Ryoma and the others for this story.


	2. Speak Loud

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, faved and alerted this story.

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**All You Need is Love**

**Chapter Two: Speak Loud**

**Have you ever had one of those moments where you just instinctively know that everyone is staring at you like you've grown another head? Well if not, welcome to Seishun Gakuen ground zero for what is apparently the most ground breaking revelation since the atom bomb. It has been exactly two minutes and fifty-seven seconds since I confronted Momo-sempai and his rowdy gang of pubescent goons and there has been complete silence on the courts ever since. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that someone had found the mute button for Japan, that's how quiet it got.**

**And then Momo-sempai snapped out of it. **

"**What was that?"**

"**You heard me."**

**I know he heard me, everyone heard me. If they hadn't they wouldn't currently be impersonating statuary. Now all eyes are on me and Momo-sempai and the entire tennis team seems to be holding their breath waiting to see what will happen next. I wonder if this is how mom feels whenever she steps into court?**

**Now Momo-sempai is staring at me with this funny expression on his face. It's like he can't decide if he wants to laugh at a particularly funny joke, or sneer at me like I'm a nasty puddle of vomit. Though if I had to pick one I'd say he's leaning more towards the latter. **

"**Sorry Echizen, I must have had something crazy in my ear. I think I misheard you."**

"**Oh, you mean like the bigot that seems to have crawled into your mouth?" I smile sweetly at him as his expression darkens along with the rest of his merry band of losers.**

**Now at this point in time the smart thing to do would be to shut my mouth and leave things at that. Momo-sempai and the rest of the juniors now have these nasty looks on their faces. I know that look over the years I've seen it on so many different faces. It's the look that my guidance councillor gave me back in fifth grade. It's a hateful, hurtful look and it makes me feel like someone has dropped cold stones into my stomach.**

"**What was that?"**

"**Wow, Momo-sempai has really bad hearing today." I taunt him. I'm tempted to stick out my tong and wiggle it around. I'm not afraid of him. I'm not afraid to his hate. **

**All of a sudden he's close up, towering over me. I don't think I have ever realized how much taller Momo-sempai is than me before this moment. I wonder if he's going to punch me? I wonder if anyone would try and stop him if he tried? Considering the stunning amount of support I'm getting I doubt it. **

"**Seriously Echizen funny business is over, now take it back."**

"**Take what back?"**

"**What you said before."**

"**I said a lot of things Momo-sempai, you'll have to be more specific."**

"**You know what I mean!" He snaps. "When you said you were…" Momo-sempai doesn't finish his sentence. He trails off looking uncomfortable.**

"**When I said I was what? Gay?"**

"**Yes!" Momo-sempai sounds desperate now. His eyes are flashing in this pleading way that is screaming at me to take it back.**

**Take it back and I will forget this ever happened. **

**It makes me sick to my stomach to think of this but for a moment I was seriously tempted to take his out. Everyone is staring at me, no one is stepping up to support me, and I am one word away of losing one of the best friends that I have ever had. What would my mom do, if she was in this situation? There's no way in hell that she would give in, Rinko Echizen is the terror of the court room, when she puts her mind to something she sees it through to the end the consequences be damned. **

**This isn't like tennis. There's no strategy in real life, and there are no special moves that I can pull to make a miracle out of a disaster. This time my team isn't cheering me on from the sidelines, and after this I'm not sure if they're ever going to again. **

**Suddenly I catch sight of Kikumaru-sempai out of the corner of my eye. He still looks completely terrified, and I swear if he had been able to talk he would have been telling me to shut up. Shut up Echizen before you ruin your life, you've made your point now shut up. Somehow this just pisses me off even more. Kikumaru-sempai shouldn't have to be afraid of something like this. He shouldn't look like he is about to break down in tears. Oishi-sempai shouldn't look that close to the breaking point. Momo-sempai and everyone else are supposed to be our friends! Shouldn't they realize how painful this is?**

**Shouldn't they care that the way they are acting right now is hurtful?**

**I remember the way they were laughing at how they had been tormenting that poor boy, whoever he was, and I realize that they don't care in the least. They don't understand and they don't want to understand. And if they have it their way things like this are just going to keep happening and they're going to think that it is okay. **

**I am not going to let that happen!**

**So I take a deep breath.**

**And I start talking. **

"**No."**

**I think this is a lot like one of those life-altering moments that you hear people talking about. **

"**You heard me loud and clear. Just like everyone else."**

**Like in a manga when the hero makes one of those dramatic choices that sets the plot in motion. That's what this is, even if it is kind of weird to be comparing my life to a manga. **

"**I. AM. GAY." I speak each word firmly, with a conviction that I didn't even know that I had. It's funny to think that this is probably the most that I have spoken since coming to Japan.**

"…"

**Somehow it feels even quieter than it did before.**

"**Do you have a problem with it Momo-sempai?" I look him dead in the eyes, daring him to say something. **

"**You're damn right I have a problem with it!" He spits out snapping out of the daze that he had been in. "I'm not going to hang around with some fucking queer!"**

**I think my heart may have just broken a little when he said that. I was expecting him to say it but somehow actually hearing it made this situation all the more real. It made what was happening twice as painful. **

**Suddenly the courts have come back to life. Whispering, hissing and jeering coming from all around me. The juniors take Momo-sempai's outburst as a cue and the name calling begins. **

**Fag. Queer. Homo. Each word is said with such hatred and disgust that it almost feels like I am being attacked physically. All of this hate is being directed at me and no one is doing anything to stop it. No one is stepping up to my defence. No one is offering support. My eyes instinctively search the crowd for someone, anyone, because I never realized of terrifying it is to be looked at like this, to be spoken to this way. **

**I see Kikumaru-sempai who looks ready to burst into tears, and Oishi-sempai who looks torn between keeping his mouth shut and stepping in. I feel a little bit resentful because part of the reason that I did this in the first place was for them, even though I know that they hadn't forced me into anything. No this entire thing is my doing. I made my bed and now I have to lie in it.**

**Though that thought doesn't make this any easier to live through.**

**Vaguely l notice that at some time during the confrontation Tezuka-bucho completely disappeared from the vicinity. When I woke up this morning Tezuka-bucho was one of my idols, a level headed guy, an amazing tennis player and a fair captain. Now, my respect for him as a person has pretty much been levelled. I said it before; I can't help but hate him a little now. By leaving he has pretty much agreed with everything that they are saying. He has given them permission to do whatever they want, because he is going to ignore everything.**

**Ignorance and all that, right?**

**Looking around I can't help but start feeling a little bit scared. There is all this hatred and hostility and it is directed entirely at me. I have been hated before; plenty of people I have played on the tennis court have hated my guts. That bloody fifth grade counsellor had hated my guts. But this was on a whole new level of hate. The way that they were looking at me, like I'm some kind of sub-human, makes me feel disgusting. It makes me feel scared.**

**I wonder if they'll chase me down if I try to run?**

**I wonder if they catch me they'll try to hurt me?**

**I wonder if they decide to hurt me if they'll kill me?**

**I wonder if this is ever going to end? Or am I going to be stuck here with them calling me names and looking at me with those eyes forever?**

"**What the hell are all of you doing?"**

**And suddenly the silence returns. Ryuuzaki Sumire stepped on to the courts, her face looking like a proverbial thunder cloud, and I have never been happier to see her. The people that had been mocking me with their hurtful names only moments before were starring in terror at the intimidating woman. **

"**Well? Does anyone want to fill me in?"**

**No one speaks; I think they are all too terrified to open their mouths. In fact my mouth seems to have stopped working as well.**

**And as she stands there staring them all down I can't help but think; Thank God! It's over, they stopped, I can breathe again!**

"**I am going to make one thing very clear," she speaks, her voice low and dangerous. "I absolutely will not tolerate bulling on these courts. If I ever so much as hear about this happening again you can be assured that you will be kicked off the team. As well as have to explain to the principal exactly why it is that you are no longer welcome."**

**I can see now why my dad is scared shitless by her.**

"**Am I understood?"**

"…"

"**Well?"**

**A resounding 'yes ma'am' echoed through the court.**

"**Good. Now start cleaning up, practice is done for today."**

**With that she left.**

**For several moments no one moved a muscle they were all still in shock from Ryuuzaki-sensei's dramatic appearance on the courts. Slowly the freshmen got to work tidying up the courts as the older members filed out one by one heading for the clubhouse. **

**All I want to do is go home. This has been one of the most trying emotional experiences in my entire life. I just want to go to sleep and forget that this ever happened. Forget that a good chunk of the Seigaku tennis team who had been cheering for me only yesterday now hated my guts. Forget that one of the best friends that I had ever had thought I was disgusting. Forget that in the span of sixteen minutes and fifty two seconds I could have quite possibly just ruined my life.**

**As I move around picking up stray tennis balls I catch Momo-sempai glaring at me out of the corner of my eye. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to forget this.**

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To be Continued...

A/N: Review please!


	3. Words

A/N: Thank you to everyone that has read, reviewd, faved and alerted this story!

Just a note regarding the time line, this story is set after the St. Rudolph match but before the match with Yamabuki.

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**All You Need is Love **

**Chapter three: Words**

**Want to know a secret? See before today's unpleasantness I had a super fan boy crush on Tezuka-bucho. Not like it's completely gone now, it's just been diminished by the fact that he totally bailed when I really needed his help. I don't really like or respect him all that much anymore, but he still has that whole stoic commander appeal going for him.**

**I feel really stupid though, because before today I kind of thought that he may have liked me back. I mean I believed in him and I trusted him, I probably would have done anything he asked me to. Not only because he wanted to make me a better tennis player but because I thought that he wanted what was best for me.**

**I mean seriously, what kind of guy says something as dramatic as "become Seigaku's pillar of support" and then just leaves the moment that someone actually needs his support? It's like he was just using me for my tennis skills, like he doesn't care at all about me as a person. **

**I hate this because it makes me think that there is something wrong with me, that I'm not worth caring about. And that's just stupid; I know that there is nothing wrong with me. But I hate him for making me question my own self-worth. Because there's always the chance that…**

**Maybe they're right.**

"**Echizen are you alright?" Ryuuzaki –sensei asks, snapping me out of my inner monologue. **

**I don't know exactly how it happened but somehow I've ended up in Ryuuzaki-sensei's office grading class 2-B's math tests. After practice had ended she had come out of nowhere and dragged me in here, and after the initial disorientation had worn off she handed me a stack of papers and an answer key and told me to get marking. And since I am not one to question the will of strong and terrifying women I did exactly that.**

"**Sensei your students are morons." I told her, flashing the latest D grade before her eyes, not so subtly changing the subject. I don't want to talk about what happened. Not yet at least. Right now everything just feels so surreal. Like confronting Momo-sempai and the others was nothing more than a horrible nightmare. **

"**Ryoma." She says my name sternly.**

"**I'm fine."**

**Of course I'm lying. And she doesn't buy it for a second, but I don't really need her to believe me I just need her to not talk about this right now. Thinking about it is hard enough.**

"**Really? Because from where I'm sitting it looks like you're shaking."**

"**Okay, I'm not fine."**

**I am grateful for what she did for me. If it wasn't for Ryuuzaki-sensei chances are things down on the courts would have gotten very ugly. There is no doubt in my mind that if she hadn't stepped in when she did Momo-sempai would have slugged me. And if she hadn't spirited me away to her office after clean-up they probably would have ambushed me on my way out the gate. She has saved my skin more than once today, and I am in her debt, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start spilling my guts to her. **

**She gives me a hard look before nodding her head.**

"**Fine, if you don't want to talk about what happened than we won't. But I just want to tell you one thing."**

"**What's that?"**

"**You've just made your life a hell of a lot harder than it has to be."**

"**I know that…"**

**She doesn't have to tell me that I already knew that I had essentially just committed social suicide. I knew from the moment that I decided that I wasn't going to let Momo-sempai get away with what he was saying that I would be sacrificing whatever reputation that I had acquired in my time at Seigaku. So yeah, I just made my life a hell of a lot more difficult, but it's worth it if it makes Momo-sempai and the others think twice before they go around queer bashing. **

"**You're a brave kid Ryoma."**

"**Of course." I give her one of my trade mark smirks and she laughs.**

"**Well at least I know that this incident hasn't damaged your self-confidence at all."**

**It may seem that way to her, but really my self-esteem has taken quite the beating today. I lost my best friend because he couldn't take who I am. I lost the respect of my team-mates because they don't understand, nor do they want to. I found out that Tezuka-bucho has no problems telling me to support the team, to "become Seigaku's pillar of support", but he doesn't have the decency to support me when I need him to. **

**Today I found out that I can stand up for my friends, but they won't stand up for me. **

**So no, I'm not exactly at 100% right now. My ego is going to need some serious patching up before I'm back to my old self. **

"**Are you going to stay on the team?"**

**To be perfectly honest until she asked me that I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do. It wasn't until just now that I realized that 'oh god I'm going to have to face them again tomorrow'. With everything else that has happened today the future was the last thing on my mind. And I don't know what I should do.**

"…**Sensei, I'm done with these tests, is there any other marking that you need help with."**

**I don't want to answer this question. I stand up and begin gathering up my things doing my best to avoid the look that she's giving me.**

"**Ryoma I'm serious."**

"**You don't need any more help? I guess I'll go home now." I say quickly and make a hurried dash for the door before she can press the topic any farther.**

**I don't know what I'm going to do.**

"**Ryoma!" Sensei's voice is sharp and it reverberates against the walls of the small office. **

**Part of me wants to stay on the team. Stay just to show them that they can't scare me away. Show them that I'm stronger than they are that they can't scare me away with their hateful words. I don't want to give them that satisfaction.**

**But the other part of me, a big loud part of me is terrified. It's screaming at me to run home and never come back. This part of me is scared of being hurt, is crying at the hateful word that had been said. This part of me wanted to catch the soonest plane ride back to California. **

"**I…I don't know yet."**

"**Ryoma, I know things look bad right now, but-" **

"**No," I cut her off before she can finish speaking. "Sensei things don't just look bad things are bad, like nuclear meltdown bad! In case you hadn't noticed everyone on the team hates me! Momo-sempai was about to knock my head in because I told him that I'm gay! That's not something that's just going to get better overnight." I ranted feeling hysteria beginning to bubble up inside my chest.**

"**Everyone does not hate you."**

"**Really? Because it sure seemed that way from where I was standing. Everyone seemed all hyped up to hop on to the homophobia band wagon and help Momo-sempai beat my head in."**

"**Half the team hardly counts as everyone."**

"**Yeah, well it was enough for me to know that no one is going to be backing me up if the fists start flying. There weren't exactly people lining up to come to my defense!"**

"**So you have this all figured out. Everyone hates you."**

**She says it in a way that tells me that I'm being melodramatic. And I probably am, but right now I could care less. She wasn't the one that was almost lynched by the people that she considered friends, it was me, and I'm not feeling particularly optimistic about the future right now. **

"**Yes." I stated stubbornly.**

"**So Kawamura hates you?" **

**The question seems so random that I momentarily have to do a double take.**

"**What?"**

"**You just said that everyone hates you so I assume that includes him as well?"**

**The image of the timid third year is conjured into my mind's eye. Kawamura-sempai is a generally calm and kind person, bar when he has a tennis racket shoved into his hands at least. He's accepting and supportive, and I don't think he has ever hated somebody in his entire life. But then again my perceptions of my teammates have already been thrown through the proverbial loop once today, so for all I know he might be just like Momo-sempai. **

**I mean before today I never would have thought that Tezuka-bucho would have walked away when someone on his team needed him.**

**Before today I never would have thought that Oishi-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai would have stood by and let bullying go on right in front of their faces.**

**Before today I never would have thought Momo-sempai would be someone that I needed to defend myself from.**

"**Yes." I answer her, a little hesitantly though, because even though my paranoia is beginning to get the better of me I can't picture Kawamura-sempai hating me. It's just not in his nature. **

"**Really? And I assume Fuji hates you as well?" **

"**Um…"**

**To be perfectly honest I don't really know Fuji –sempai all that well. I mean, I know his tennis moves can defy the laws of physics. That he gets scary as hell when you piss him off. And he has those gorgeous blue eyes. None of this really tells me all that much about him as a person, well despite the fact that he's seriously pretty, that I know for sure. And just because someone is pretty on the outside doesn't mean that their pretty on the inside. **

**But he doesn't seem like the type to get his kicks through bullying. **

"**Yes?"**

"**What about Kaidoh and Inui? And those freshmen friends of yours? I assume that they all hate you as well?"**

"…"

"**If that is what you really think I believe that you are seriously underestimating your friends."**

"**Yeah well, I thought that Momo-sempai was my friend and look how that turned out."**

**If the guy I considered to be my best friend hates me because of this, what chance is there that the others are going to be any different? **

"**Ryoma what happened was awful, I'll give you that, but whether you want to believe it or not you have real friends on this team. You can't let a gang of ignorant fourteen year olds make you lose faith in everyone."**

"**...I know that."**

"**Really? Just a moment ago you were telling me how Kawamura and Fuji hate you because of an event that they weren't even part of."**

"…"

"**And let me tell you I really don't think either of them will care if you like boys or girls or flying purple people eaters."**

"**Purple people eaters?" I ask cracking a smile.**

"**Purple people eaters." She states firmly grinning back at me.**

"**Ryoma I know that this is going to be difficult for you and I'm not going to lie things are probably going to get worse before they get better. But when this is all over you're going to be able to look back on this day and smile."**

**I can't help but snort humorlessly at this. "I don't know what I'd be smiling at."**

"**Because today is the day that you stood up for what you believe in."**

**She says this with such a straight face that I'm left gaping at her like a fish. I can't believe that she actually said that it's just so unbelievably corny! But at the same time it makes me smile. Somehow things don't seem so horribly hopeless any more.**

"**Thanks Sensei." I tell her before heading out.**

"**I'll see you tomorrow."**

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**A/N:Ryuuzaki-sensei has turned out to have a bigger part in this than I originally planned, but I believe that she works well as therapist/confidant to Ryoma, and the poor kid really needed somebody to talk to after everything that happened.

And just a note for anyone interested I have posted a poll for who you think Ryoma should end up with in this story.

Please Review!**  
**


	4. Heartache, Heartbreak

Disclaimer:I do not own Prince of Tennis, I am just borrowing the characters.

A/N: Once again thank you to everyone who is supporting this fic by reading, reviewing and favorite-ing!

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**All You Need Is Love**

**Chapter Four: Heartache, Heartbreak**

**If you know Nanjiroh Echizen than you probably know that he is a pretty laid back guy most of the time. I don't think that I have ever one seen my father be serious in my entire life, I mean even when he was teaching me tennis there was always this very present laid back feel to everything. If someone had asked me before last night if my father was even capable of being serious I would have laughed in their faces. However, now I regret ever telling him about yesterday's unpleasantness with Momo-sempai, because I found out that I have never been more wrong in my entire life then I was about the old man's temperament. **

**The night started normal enough. I got home he asked me how school was, and I candidly replied to him that I had almost been lynched by a homophobic mob comprised entirely of my friends and team mates. Now when I told him this I fully expected him to crack some kind of lame joke, regardless of how serious and traumatizing the situation had been, and we would continue on with our lives. Instead he got really quiet and stared at me with this completely blank expression. **

**He just kept staring at me with this blank look for what felt like forever, and I was too wierded out to move because I had never seen him act like this in my entire life and thought that something was wrong. I was just seconds away from yelling for Nakano to come help me snap him out of it when he came to. This odd look appeared on his face and he asked me in a soft voice:**

"**What did you say?"**

**It was about this time that I realized that telling him this way was probably not the smartest thing that I have ever done in my life, but in my defense I had never seen my dad act like anything other than a goofball. How was I supposed to know that cracking a dark joke about my traumatic experience would send him into some sort of overprotective parental fit?**

"**Nothing." I answered quickly.**

**After his uncharacteristic reaction to my announcement I decided that I really did not want to risk making him any weirder and my best bet was to try and play it off like it never happened.**

"**Ryoma!" he snapped and I couldn't help but wince. I had never in my life heard my dad sound as scary as he did then. **

**I knew it wasn't me that he was upset with. That it was what I had said that had made him like this, that it was what had happened to me that was making him snap. But right at that moment everything just seemed to keep piling up, and even if talking with Ryuuzaki-sensei had made things feel a little bit better the stress of the day just hit me all at once, and I did something that I hadn't done in years.**

**I started to cry.**

**It started out with just a few tears, and then suddenly it was like someone had opened the floodgates and I was bawling like a toddler. The next thing that I knew dad was hugging me and I was blubbering about all the awful things that Momo-sempai had said and how Tezuka-bucho had abandoned me and how if Ryuuzaki-sensei had come just one moment later I would have had my head punched in. **

**I'm sure that I repeated myself at least half a dozen times, but once I had started I just couldn't stop. The words just kept pouring out of my mouth and tears just kept pouring out of my eyes. I don't know long we just sat there for, with me bawling my eyes out and dad holding me and telling me that everything was going to be alright.**

**At some point Nakano came in with a tray of hot tea to help calm me down. By time I finally calmed down enough to realize what was going on around me it was going on midnight. And the next thing I knew dad, who was still playing the overprotective parent, was tucking me into bed like I was five or something. Not that I had the energy to put up much of a fight at the time. I was just too exhausted.**

"**It's going to be alright Ryoma." He told me before I passed out. "Things will be better in the morning."**

**And so here I am. Morning. And I have never been so nervous about anything in my entire life. I woke up this morning with my eyes itching and my head throbbing, and honestly things felt just as crappy as they did last night. In fact, they actually feel a bit worse because I'm going to have to go to school today. I promised Sensei that I would, and I don't break my promises.**

**At least I don't usually. **

**The prospect of going to school today makes me feel physically ill, because I know that I'm going to have to face everyone. I'm going to have to look into the eyes of everyone that called me cruel names, the ones that would have tried to hurt me, the ones that had stood by and done nothing. I was going to have to face the people that I hadn't yet. The ones that hadn't been there for the explosion the ones that I didn't know how were going to react. **

**I don't know which terrified me more. **

**Somehow I managed to pull myself out of bed and get dressed, thought all the while I was debating the pros and cons of getting back into bed and hiding out under my covers until everyone just forgot that I even existed. **

**The cons won out and five minutes later I was down stairs trying to put on my shoes as slowly as humanly possible. **

"**You don't have to go to school today." Dad told me as he entered the room. "I'll phone you in sick if you want."**

"**No thanks. I think this is one of those things that I have to do."**

"**Stubborn."**

"**Yeah."**

"**You get that from your mother."**

"**Probably."**

**I took a deep breath and he gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze. And then I was off. A Bunch of thoughts ran through my mind as I began the trek to school. Thoughts like: How will they look at me? What are they going to say? What am I going to say? The thoughts just kept coming one after another and after about a minute I think that I managed to imagine every worst possible outcome and despite me moving at a snail's pace my heart was racing, beating in my chest like a drum.**

**I didn't have long to wait for my first encounter of the day, because as soon as I turned that first corner I found myself walking straight into Kikumaru Eiji. **

**For a moment we just kind of froze and stared at each other with mirrored expressions of shock. After the moment passed he started opening and shutting his mouth rapidly almost speaking each time but then thinking better of it and choosing to remain silent. As he was doing this I managed to snap out of my daze and remember that I was still very pissed off at him and after another moment of his almost speaking I made my irritation known.**

"**Look if you're going to say something just says it. I don't have all day."**

**The words came out a lot snappier than I had meant for them to, but I still managed to get my point across.**

"**I'msosorry!"**

**The words flew out of his mouth so quickly that I almost didn't understand him. And even then I wasn't sure that I had heard him right.**

"**What?"**

"**I'm sorry." He repeated.**

"**About what?" I ask even though I'm fairly sure that I already know.**

"**About yesterday, about what happened. Ochibi you have to believe me, I had no idea things were going to go that far."**

"**Yeah well they did."**

"**I wanted to say something, I really, really did!"**

"**But you didn't." I tell him coldly, "You just stood there while everyone attacked me! And don't even bother pretending that what happened had nothing to do with you because I already know about you and Oishi-sempai."**

"**Not everyone can be as brave as you are." He shot back. "Do you honestly think that I just stood back and watched because it was what? Entertainment? You must be out of your mind! Ochibi… Ryoma, I don't know if you've realized this or not but your my friend, and I would never let you get hurt on purpose."**

"**Not like that helps me much now."**

**Kikumaru-sempai looks completely devastated when I tell him this. I'm not even trying to be cruel anymore, it's just stating facts. Hindsight might be twenty/twenty in his case, but unfortunately what's done is done, and he apologizing after the fact really does nothing to help me now.**

"**I would have done something, really I would have, I promise, but I was just so scared!" he begins to tear up a little when he says this, and I start to feel bad for being so hard on him. I understand being afraid.**

"**I was too." I tell him softly.**

**He starts crying for real now. Kikumaru-sempai covers up his face with his hands and starts to cry. It's awkward to watch, not because he is crying loudly or anything, actually all I can hear are faint sounds of choking sobs, its more that it's him that I'm watching cry. Kikumaru-sempai is always so happy and hyper, I mean I know that he's an overly emotional person, but crying just doesn't suit him.**

**I don't know what to say or do to make him stop, my abilities to comfort people aren't exactly my most well-honed skill. So instead I put down my bag and lean up against the nearby lamp-post and wait for him to stop on his own. As I waited I watched him. Honestly part of me is deliriously happy that he cared enough to come talk to me about this, I wasn't really expecting any kind of civil interaction today it just seemed like too much to hope for under the circumstances. **

**Even though I am still pretty upset with him and with Oishi-sempai for that matter, for standing by and letting me take the fall on my own. The fact that he was man enough to come apologize and try and make amends makes things a little easier to bear. **

**Speaking of Oishi-sempai, I wonder where he is. It's rare to see him and Kikumaru-sempai apart.**

**After a few minutes Kikumaru-sempai had finally managed to calm down enough to look at me without starting to cry again. His face was now bright red in embarrassment from having cried in public, the color clashed horribly with his hair and made him resemble an overly ripe tomato. **

"**Sorry about that." He sniffled looking away awkwardly. "It's just yesterday was really, really bad."**

"**Don't worry about it. I know it was bad I was there remember." I tell him.**

"**No not that, not that what happened wasn't bad and all but…"**

**Kikumaru-sempai trails off, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. I can almost hear him internally debating with himself whether or not he is going to tell me what could have possibly have been worse then what happened at practice yesterday. **

**After several moments of nerve wracking silence my worry won out over my patience and I asked him what had happened yesterday that had been so horrible.**

"**Don't worry about it Ochibi." He tells me, slapping the fakest smile that I have ever seen in my life onto his face. "It's not important."**

"**If it's enough to make you cry it must be important sempai."**

**The smile falls off his face and he fixes me with a contemplative stare, debating whether or not to tell me what happened. He comes to a decision quickly and begins to speak.**

"…**It's…It's about Oishi…"**

"**Did something happen to him?"**

**Kikumaru-sempai shrugged in a non-committal way. "Sort of."**

"**What do you mean?"**

**He opens and closes his mouth half a dozen times before he finally manages to find his voice.**

"**Oishi wants to break up with me." **

**It takes a moment for me to comprehend what he had said; those words just sound so very wrong. Why the hell would Oishi-sempai want to break up with him? The two of them may have thought they were being extra sneaky together, hiding their relationship from the rest of the team, but I've seen them together. And I've never seen to people that are more right for one another. Why Oishi-sempai would want to give that up is beyond me. **

"**What! Why?" **

"**After what happened yesterday he told me that maybe it was wrong for us to be together. That if we stay together it will only cause trouble."**

**The look of complete devastation on Kikumaru-sempai's face makes me feel sick to my stomach. How could this have happened? How can what a group of ignorant boys said be causing so much pain? I don't understand.**

"**I hate this so much. I hate what they said. I hate that it scared me so much, and I hate that Oishi believed them." He suddenly bursts out angrily; tears once more start rolling down his cheeks, and I suddenly feel compelled to reach out and wipe them away. I hate how many tears are being shed over this.**

"**I can't lose him." He sobs. "I just can't!"**

"**Oishi is my other half. He's the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think of before I go to bed. He knows me better than anyone, and I love him more than I have ever loved anything in my whole life."**

**As he speaks my heart begins to ache for him. The look of anguish and heartbreak that covers his face is enough to make me feel the pain that he's in right now. **

**I have never been in love before myself. Sure I've had crushes but nothing as extreme or serious as the love that Kikumaru-sempai shared with Oishi-sempai. To love someone to the point that they consume your entire universe, that actually sounds frightening to me. To give someone your heart and trust them not to break it. **

**I look at him now and I can see it so clearly, his hear is breaking.**

"**Two years, we've been together for two years and suddenly he wants to throw it all away! He wants to throw me away over stupid words! …Does he even love me at all?"**

**He looks at me beseechingly, like he's hoping that I have the answers to his questions. But I don't. I wish I did, I wish that I could fix this, because by god it is painful to watch someone's heart break. But I can't. The only thing that I can do is listen and watch as he crumples to the pavement like a marionette that has had its strings cut.**

"**If he loved me, I mean really loved me, wouldn't he fight to keep me? If he really loved me he wouldn't give me up so easily, would he?"**

**I don't have the answers, so all I can do is watch as he dissolves into tears.**

**I hate this. **

**

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**A/N: Things are really going to start heating up with the drama now. And Fuji is finally scheduled to make his appearance in the next chapter.

A big thanks to everyone that has hit the pairing poll for Ryoma's future beau! I'm going to be leaving it up for a few more chapters just so more of the characters get some screen time. So keep voting Please! But one thing, if you vote for the option 'Other' please tell me who else you have in mind.

Please Review if you want to know what happens next!**  
**


	5. Oh Misery

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. No matter how much I might want to.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. The entire month of April was pretty much devoted to finals. I once again wish to express my gratitude to everyone who has read, reviewed and faved this story.

So without further ado, on with the story.

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**All You Need is Love**

**Chapter Five: Oh Misery**

"**I'm sure that he does, love you I mean." I tell Kikumaru-sempai after listening to him sob for several minutes with no end in sight. He looks up at me, big tears still rolling down redden cheeks, and I have to push down a very uncomfortable feeling that has begun growing in the pit of my stomach. **

**I said it before; I'm not all that good at offering comfort or at social interaction in general really. Most of the conversations that I'm involved in are usually limited to monosyllabic replies on my part. It's not that I dislike interacting with people it's just that I have trouble saying things unless I'm particularly upset or pissed off.**

**Looking at Kikumaru-sempai now, he just looks so pathetic and vulnerable and I can't help but say something. Though privately, I hope that Oishi-sempai gets mauled by cats in the very near future for making Kikumaru-sempai feel this awful and for making me feel this awful on his behalf. I have enough issues of my own without having to worry about my sempai's dysfunctional love life. He better appreciate that I am trying to fix he and Kikumaru-sempai's relationship.**

"**If I had to guess I would say that Oishi-sempai is just as freaked out about all this as we are. Only his idea for making things better is apparently to deny everything all together, which in my opinion is only going to make things a whole lot worse. But I don't think it means that he loves you any less."**

"**R-really?" He asks, his voice small and raw.**

"**I'm pretty sure. But the best thing the two of you can do right now is to talk it out between yourselves because freaking out isn't going to make things any better for either one of you." I tell him firmly before adding, "And please don't ask me to play therapist any more than I already have okay? This whole comfort thing is really uncomfortable."**

**At this he gives a watery giggle and I grin in return. **

"**But you're so good at it Ochibi." He teases. **

"**Maybe, but seriously it makes my skin crawl."**

**It takes several moments for Kikumaru-sempai to regain his composure. I close my eyes and listen as he takes deep studying breaths. I haven't even gotten to school yet and already I can tell that this is not going to be a good day. Call me a pessimist but any day that begins in tears seems doomed to failure and just all around badness. I wonder if it's not too late to run back home and hid under the bed. **

**I open my eyes and look upward to watch the clouds roll by across an impossibly blue sky. I have always loved the color blue, there's something about it that is just so calming. Minutes passed slowly by and gradually Kikumaru-sempai's breathing steadied, and I spent another few minutes enjoying the calm and blissful silence before dragging myself back to reality.**

"**We probably shouldn't be seen walking to school together." I tell Kikumaru-sempai once I manage to bring myself to look away from the blue sky.**

"**Why?" He asks his voice thick and hoarse from all the crying he has done in the past twenty minutes. His eyes are red and swollen and tear tracks stain his cheeks. All and all he looks like a complete mess but he's not crying anymore and I guess that's something. **

"**Because I don't want you to be as much of a target as I'm going to be. You don't need to deal with this right now."**

"**That's not fair to you Ochibi." Kikumaru-sempai frowns.**

"**I'm coming to realize now what people mean when they say 'life isn't fair'." I attempt to joke, but his glare only intensifies. "Don't worry sempai I can handle it, seriously what's the worst thing that can happen? They call me names and stuff me in a locker?"**

"**You shouldn't have to handle anything!" He snaps angrily and I am momentarily taken aback because an angry Kikumaru-sempai is remarkably intimidating. "None of this should be happening! What happened yesterday was insane, we're a team were supposed to look out for each other not attack each other."**

**He is right of course, but unfortunately neither of us is in any position to do anything about it right now. Besides the more that I think about it the more it feels like I'm blowing the entire thing out of proportion. Really, what are the chances that someone is going to straight out attack me just because I'm gay? **

"**Your right, but right now I think the best thing that the two of us can do is keep this from being blown out of proportion. And right now that means not feeding the rumor mill by showing up to school together."**

**They'd have us in bed together in a snap if that were to happen. And that is a level of awkwardness that I do not want and Kikumaru-sempai does not need, especially if he is having relationship issues with Oishi-sempai.**

"**But-"**

"**Please sempai" I beseech him "I really don't want this to get any worse than it already is."**

**For several moments he does nothing but stare at me in this searching way like he was trying to see into my head by looking into my eyes. I do my best to meet his gaze straight on and try to convince myself that what I'm doing is for the best, because even though I'm fairly certain that no one is going to attack me it doesn't mean that I'm looking forward to the prospect of walking into hostile territory on my own. If I wasn't so worried about making myself into an even bigger target the truth is that I would have probably forced Kikumaru-sempai to walk with me and to stand right alongside me and face the accusing stares of our peers and listen to them snicker at the cruel jokes and the harsh words, whether he wanted to or not.**

**Does it make me a horrible person that I don't want to face this on my own?**

**I must be projecting my insecurities onto my face because the next thing that I know he's grabbed my hand and is holding it tightly in his own. It sort of annoys me that my hands are so small in comparison to his, however, I don't have long to dwell on this because he begins to speak.**

"**Alright, I'll do this your way Ochibi, but if things get to bad or if something…happens I'm going to step in. I'm your sempai and it's my job to look out for you not the other way around. I know that I did a really lousy job of it yesterday, but I promise that I will make it up to you. And if Oishi leaves me because I do the right thing… then he isn't the man that I thought he was."**

**Wow… Kikumaru-sempai is surprisingly cool when he's being serious.**

"**Okay." Because really what can I say after something like that. "You better head off first; people will notice more if you're late then if I am."**

**With that I was watching him leave and I was once again alone on the street. I can't help but smile, because no matter how much this situation sucks I know that I have at least one real friend. Even so I decide to wait an extra ten minutes because I'm still in no rush to get to school.**

**I want to be able to think positively about this. That maybe when I get to school what happened yesterday wouldn't have already spread like influenza, but I know that, that is stupid because this is middle school and people have the internet and someone probably already posted a video on YouTube and commented on Facebook and people in Iceland probably know what happened. I don't think I am very good at thinking positive. **

**Maybe no one will care.**

**Yeah right, me outing myself in front of a homophobic mob was probably the most interesting thing to happen at Seishun Gakuen in years, even more so since I am apparently some kind of celebrity. Which I still don't really get and think is really creepy since I seem to have a following of fan girls, and I'm gay what the hell do I need fan girls for? It would be better if I had a following of hot fan boys….does this count as thinking positively?**

**I decide to take the long way to school, meaning I was taking as many back roads and turns as possible to delay the inevitable. It turned out to be a pretty dumb idea since I ended up roaming around a neighborhood that I had never seen before and had no idea which direction I was supposed to go to get to school from here. In layman's terms 'I'm lost.'**

**I ended up wandering around unfamiliar streets for the better part of half an hour, at which point I realized that I really was going to be late for school, though at this point I couldn't get there even if I wanted to. I was seriously just about to break down and knock on someone's door to ask for directions when I saw a group of guys that were wearing the Seigaku uniform.**

'**Good, I'll just follow them.'**

**Which was my idea, but unfortunately my recent stroke of abnormally bad luck seems to be continuing. As one of the boys caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye and whispered something to his two buddies. They came to a sudden stop, and me not knowing what else to do halted as well. **

**The three of them turned around so that now they were facing me, and I realized with an uncomfortable lurch in my stomach that this situation was most likely going to get very unpleasant. They started towards me in a vaguely threatening manner, with these demented little smiles on their faces, which I suppose was them trying to look 'friendly' but instead just seemed to scream 'were going to beat the shit out of you.'**

'**If I start running now I can probably get away.' I thought to myself as I began to frantically look for the best escape route. However, before I knew it they had me backed up against a concrete wall and I was left with no possible avenue for escape.**

**These guys were second years, I notice as they loom over me, and rather large and butch second years at that. One of them I recognize as being from the tennis team. One of the guys that really has no hope of ever playing in an official match, one of the no talent losers that Seigaku seems to have just so many of. He was also one of the ones that was cackling along with Momo-sempai yesterday. With that I realize that this situation is just going to go from bad to worse. **

"**Yo Taki, this is the guy?" One of the monstrous second years addresses… I guess his name is Taki, while leering at me with this nasty look on his face.**

**Oh god I need to get out of here. **

"**Yep this is the guy." Taki snickered. "Isn't he just the cuuutest~ thing that you have ever seen?"**

"**Sure is pretty. You sure he's really a fag and not a chick in disguise?" The other big guy asks as he grabs me by my hair and forces my head back against the concrete wall. I feel my face heat up in humiliation but this just seems to make them laugh harder.**

"**He's such a fucking arrogant little ice-queen…maybe we should check to make sure."**

**What!**

**I feel all the blood drain out of my face as a cold sweat broke out all over my body. They can't be serious! They just can't! I begin to struggle to try and get away but the big guy that is pinning my head to the wall just presses harder and I can feel sharp bit of cement beginning to cut into my scalp.**

**I'm terrified.**

**I'm horrified.**

**I'm mortified.**

**This is the single most humiliating experience that I have ever been in, in my entire life and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I begin struggling even more, desperate to get away. I yell furiously for them to stop to get off me, but they only laugh and tell me to shut up. I'm kicking frantically at the hands that are drawing closer and closer to my belt. This time, the big guy draws my head away from the wall only to slam it back hard and fast making stars erupt in my eyes and effectively stopping my struggling. **

**Oh god this is really happening isn't it?**

**My heart is beating so rapidly it's beginning to hurt.**

**Help.**

**It's getting hard to breathe. How am I supposed to breathe again?**

**Someone, anyone help me please!**

**Please!**

**Help me. Help me. Help me. HelpmeHelpmeHelpmeHelpme!**

**Taki's hands latch onto my belt and then…**

"**I strongly advise that you stop what you're doing immediately."**

**They stopped. Suddenly I'm on the ground, big guy released my head from his vice grip and I just collapsed to the ground. Their staring at someone behind them, but I can't see who. All I can look at are their shoes since I am still too scared to move. Or breath for that matter, my lungs have constricted and I have to struggle to get in a breath of air. Stars are still dancing in my eyes and my vision has begun to fade at the edges. **

**Someone came.**

"**Now explain to me just what the hell you three are doing." My savior demanded. His voice is familiar. I want to see him; I want to see the person who rescued me.**

"**He was asking for it Sempai." Taki whined in a nasally pitch.**

"**I seriously doubt that." The voice articulated with icy and deadly diction. **

"**Common Sempai you know what he is. He deserves it!" **

"**Oh really, enlighten me then just what about him justifies these deplorable actions. Tell me."**

"**He's a fucking arrogant little fagot that's what!" Taki hollers and suddenly that street goes completely silent.**

"**I'm sorry I must have misheard you, can you repeat what you just said." My savior asks with a false sweetness.**

"**I said that he is a disgusting little queer who needs to be taught a lesson." Taki snarls. **

"**That's what I thought you said. Well then gentlemen it seems that we have a problem." He states as he begins to advance on the group.**

"**Not only am I going to report you the principal for the bullying of a fellow student, I am also going to be reporting you to the authorities for sexual harassment."**

**The three of them begin to sputter incoherently. **

"**S-sexual what!" one of the big guys exploded. "We weren't doing anything like that!"**

"**So you weren't attempting to forcibly remove his pants? In case the lot of you didn't know that does constitute as sexual harassment."**

"**Shit, common Sempai don't do this, it was just a bit of fun."**

"**Fun at someone else's expense, that always does seem to be the best kind. Maybe I should have some 'fun' with the lot of you, I'm sure I can think of a few thing that you would find to be a riot, what do you say?" the sadistic edge that had been slowly creeping into his voice was fully noticeable now, and I immediately realize exactly who had come to my rescue.**

"**Fuji-sempai?" I manage to whisper as I have finally gathered enough energy to speak. He looks down at me and smiles his trademark smile before looking back up at my attackers his icy blue eyes snapping open making him seem ten times more intimidating than the overgrown second years despite his slim physique.**

"**Shit…"**

**He stared them down for a few more moments, obviously taking a sadistic pleasure in watching them sweat. I haven't been a student at Seigaku for very long yet, but I have been long enough to learn that most of the student body is wary of Fuji-sempai. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have heard some startling gossip from the student body about him. Gossip that he now seems to be using to his full advantage to scare the shit out of these three. **

"**Why don't you boy's go run along now." He tells them. "I'll keep this quiet for now but if I hear so much as a whisper of any of you harassing him again you can be certain that I will do something about it. Are we clear?"**

**They nodded frantically before taking off down the street at break neck speeds. **

"**Sa. That was interesting now wasn't it?" he asked the air, and I let out a sigh of relief.**

**They're finally gone.**

"**You can get up now Echizen the ground can't be all that comfortable."**

**Feeling a bit like an idiot I try to push myself up as quickly as possible. This apparently was a bad idea since the moment I managed to stand the world spun and stars once again erupted in my vision. The big guy must have knocked my head harder than I thought. I sway on the spot and luckily Fuji-sempai managed to catch me before I completely toppled over.**

"**Thanks."**

"**Well I couldn't just let you collapse now could I?" he says and I get the strangest feeling that I'm being mocked.**

"**I mean for before with those guys. Thank you for saving me." I tell him as I work to regain my balance. My head is still throbbing uncomfortably, but the pain is slowly beginning to subside. And my heart, which had been pounding in my chest only moments ago was beginning to steady.**

"**No problem, though I suppose that I could have scared them a bit more… oh well next time." There is something seriously unnerving about the way he's smiling right now, though since it's not really directed at me I decide to let it go. **

"**What are you doing here anyway?" I ask because honestly I am dying to know. Seriously what are the odds that he just happened to be passing by right at that moment?**

"**Oh that, I live here." He replies while pointing toward the house behind the wall that my head had become so intimately acquainted with. "I was just on my way out, so imagine my surprise when I saw three rather large brutes tormenting my poor little Kohai." The way that he says it makes me sound like a defenseless little kitten or something. "What else could I have possibly done but come to his rescue." He keeps referring to me in the third person and it's getting kind of annoying so I decide that it's time to change the subject.**

**Unfortunately he beat me to it.**

"**So it is true then?" He asks his eyes cracking open to reveal breathtaking blue eyes. Fuji-sempai seriously has the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen in my life. **

"**Is what true?" I ask even though I already have a good idea what this is about.**

"**Last night I received no less than thirty-seven emails announcing to me that that Echizen Ryoma had come out in front of the entire tennis team as being a homosexual. As you can imagine most people were rather horrified by this. Though it was rather amusing to read through all the trash that they sent me, I can't help but wonder if what I've been hearing is true or if it's just a rumor that has gotten a tad out of hand."**

**Since there is no use trying to deny it I tell him that it's the truth.**

"**Saa, well that's alright than. Though I suppose that the part about you French kissing Momoshiro is someone's embellishment?"**

"**What?" What the hell? Did someone actually say that? Did they completely miss the part where he had tried to punch me in the face?**

"**That's what I thought." He laughs apparently noticing the appalled look on my face, and I'm not sure if I should be pissed off or embarrassed. **

"**So you don't mind? About me?" I ask hesitantly, still shaken from my recent traumatic experience, and not wanting to insight anything in case he wasn't. He waits a moment before answering, and I know that I'm being too idealistic to hope that he might be gay as well. **

**Handsome man comes and saves me from the monsters and we ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Yeah right, not in reality. But still, I can dream can't I?**

"**I don't mind personally, but I can't say the same about the rest of the student body." He fixes me with a hard stare. "I hope you realize that you are the only openly gay student at Seigaku."**

"**I can handle it." I tell him firmly, because more than anything I want to believe that I can.**

"**Yes, and you seemed to be doing such a wonderful job so far" He smiles, voice dripping with sarcasm.**

"**I just have to be more careful that's all."**

"**I don't think your understanding me Echizen." He sighs and then suddenly brilliant blue eyes are staring directly into mine as he has drawn extremely close. He leans in just a little closer and my heart begins to once again pound in my chest. All this excitement can't be good for my health.**

"**What you have to understand Echizen is that people innately fear that which they do not understand. And through fear comes hatred and through hatred comes violence. Even though in reality there is nothing genuinely threatening about homosexuality it is still something that is different and something that the students at our school have no way of understanding or dealing with. So they will inevitably lash out at you whether with their words or with their fists. And if you think what just happened was bad, you are most likely to be in for a rude awakening. You're going to have to be very careful, or you are going to get hurt."**

**He steps back and his smile snaps back into place. It's unnerving how quickly he can swap persona's. And I can feel my insides freeze at his words, school suddenly seems even more daunting than it was before.**

"**I'm not saying that you're going to be completely alone Echizen. I'll do my best to look out for you, and I know that there are others who will stand up for you as well. But you're still going to have to watch you're back especially considering how things stand right now."**

**I don't really think too much about what he means by that last part, even though it does sound strangely ominous. I'm too busy beginning my mental preparation.**

**It's time to go to DEFCON one.**

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To be continued...

A/N: Poor Ryoma, the guy just can't seem to catch a break. And the hits just keep coming and coming. At least he's starting to get some backup, since there is nothing worse than facing a crisis on your own.

Just a note to everyone that the pairing poll for this chapter is still up and running. So there is still time to vote on who you want Ryoma to end up with.

Please Review! Reviews are always greatly appreciated!**  
**


	6. Rules of the Game

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis I am merely borrowing the characters for my own purposes.

A/N: I once again want to give a big thank you to every one who reads, reviews, faves and alerts this story. Seriously you guys are all awesome!

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**All You Need is Love**

**Chapter Six: Rules of the Game**

"**Rule number one: If large and threatening boys come at you looking for a fight don't indulge them, and don't be a confrontational smart ass like you usually are, run; get away as fast as you can because chances are they will be just as friendly as our friends from a few minutes ago."**

"**Rule number two: If you can't get away hide. It doesn't matter where just as long as they can't find you, because if they can't find you they can't hurt you."**

"**Rule number three: don't do anything to provoke them. Which basically means that you Echizen must keep your head down and your mouth shut and try very hard not to say anything that can insult or in any way piss off someone. Understand?"**

**Fuji-sempai decided rather suddenly that I needed to learn the rules of being a social outcast a.s.a.p. Unfortunately there isn't enough time before we need to get to school for him to tell me the entire list, which is apparently rather long and detailed with subheadings and everything, so instead I'm getting the abridged version. It's actually pretty simple: don't look at anybody, don't talk to anybody, and don't try to defend yourself, because apparently that really pisses them off and makes them want to knock your skull in with blunt objects.**

**Let me just tell you this; I was afraid before, and this list is doing nothing to alleviate that fear. It's more like my fears got a steroid injection and now they are huge and buff and ready to crush down the small sliver of confidence that I had managed to hold on to through this whole ordeal.**

**I can't help but wonder why Fuji-sempai is so knowledgeable about all of this. I mean last I checked he was pretty popular. And when I say pretty popular I mean that at least half the female population of Seigaku has a crush on him from what I hear he gets at least three love confessions every day, the entire school thinks he's brilliant, guys on the team both admire and envy his skills. He's smart, athletic and good looking and is generally considered a member of the in crowd despite his penchant for blackmailing members of the faculty and the student body; that is if the rumors are true.**

**I try to picture Fuji-sempai as some sort of social outcast; the best that I can manage to conjure up a deeply disturbing mental image of Fuji-sempai with his face covered in zits wearing enormous wire frame glasses with braces strapped to his teeth. I physically wince at the thought and expel the image from my mind because such a thing should not exist in the universe. Fuji-sempai must always be uncommonly hot or the world would be thrown out of balance. **

"**It's not as bad as it sounds Echizen." He tells me noticing my wince and believing that is was brought on by 'the rules', which I will admit do piss me off. But despite my pride if I have to choose between not getting beat up and speaking my mind I'll have to go with not getting beat up.**

**I'm just going to have to find another way to express myself that is less straightforward. This admittedly will be hard, since I'm not very good at being subtle. DEFCON one sounds more fun when I'm thinking it, not planning it out. Right now I'm actually kind of hoping that I can get my hands on a tank or something. That would help me feel safe. If I had a tank I bet I could be as straightforwardly gay as I wanted and no one would have anything to say about it. **

"**Echizen?" Fuji-sempai's voice snapped me out of my inner musings and back to the harshness that is reality, not that my thoughts were any more pleasant. **

"**I'm listening. It just…" I struggle to find the right word because upsetting just doesn't seem to cover everything that I am feeling right now. **

"**Overwhelming?" He fills in.**

"**Yeah that's it. I think that I am now officially overwhelmed."**

"**It's understandable; it is quite a lot to take in. But I believe that you'll do fine."**

"**Because I've done such a good job so far." I state sarcastically, complete with a stereotypical eye roll.**

"**Because you're too much of an arrogant brat to let something like this stop you."**

**I can only gape at him for a moment because as comforting as his pep talk is I can't exactly tell if he is complementing me or insulting me. **

"**You boys are going to be late for school if you keep dilly dallying around here." A woman's voice addresses us. **

**I spin around on my heels and find myself face to face with what appears to be what Fuji-sempai would look like if he actually was a woman, and didn't just sort of look like one. Not that I could ever actually mistake Fuji-sempai for a woman, it's just that he has a very effeminate appearance. **

**The woman, who I'm guessing is either Fuji-sempai's mother or sister, smiles brightly at me before approaching Fuji-sempai.**

"**Syusuke do you and your friend need a ride to school?" she asks.**

"**Ah, thank you Yumiko." He replies. **

**She nudges him in the side with her elbow and nods here head toward me. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend Syusuke?" the glint in her eyes is wicked and mischievous and I can immediately see the family resemblance. **

"**Of course. Yumiko this is my team-mate Echizen Ryoma, Echizen this is my older sister Fuji Yumiko."**

"**It's very nice to meet you Ryoma-kun."**

"**You too." I answer awkwardly. There is something about the knowing look she is giving me that is very off-putting. But she just continues to smile in that disarming way completely oblivious to my discomfort.**

**I wonder how many siblings Fuji-sempai has anyway. I've met his younger brother, Yuuta I think his name is, and now his older sister. I wonder if he has an estranged identical twin that I should be made aware of. I hope not, one Fuji-sempai is enough.**

"**Time to go boys, you don't want to be late do you?"**

**Actually I wouldn't mind being late today, not that I'm going to tell her that. I climb into the back seat of Yumiko-san's lovely red corvette and I instantly feel grossly out of place. The outside of her car is a sight to look at and that perfection is reflected on the inside perfectly. There's not a single smudge on any of the windows. The seats are made of shiny black leather that does not look like they have ever been sat on and the floor doesn't even have a single speck of dust on it. The beautiful, expensive car is shiny and perfect inside and out and me being covered in dust and dirt feels like I'm causing property damage just sitting here.**

**I was actually so conserved by this that I almost missed Fuji-sempai ask his sister "Can I drive?" In all honesty I was expecting her to answer him with a big fat ****NO****, because what kind of person would let their under aged brother drive their flawless car? My question was instantly answered by Yumiko-san who much like her younger brothers seems to have some kind of genetic predisposition to be weird and answered "Sure."**

**Now logically this led me to assume that Fuji-sempai must have some sort of talent when it comes to driving. I mean, there is just no way Yumiko-san, who seems like a mature and responsible adult, would let him drive her car if he had no driving ability, right? Besides Fuji-sempai is great at everything he does I doubt that driving will be any different. **

**Oh, how I wish that had been the case.**

**The two of them get into the car strap in their seat belts. Fuji-sempai goes through the motions of checking the side and rear view mirrors, and the blinkers and even the window washing fluid. With him being so careful and meticulous with checking every last detail I actually began to feel rather safe about him driving us to school.**

**And then I catch him looking at me in the rear view mirror.**

**And then I catch that evil glint in his eyes.**

**And then I catch that sadistic smirk that draws up the corners of his lips.**

**I gulp. **

**Take a deep breath.**

**And he floors it.**

**And when I say that he floors it I mean he literally floors it like a character in one of the old Looney Tunes cartoons. He even completed the illusion with the psychotic smile. I instantly forgot all about not wanting to mess up Yumiko-san's lovely leather interior and dug my nails deeply into the seats creating extremely visible and defined claw marks on the black leather **_**upholstery**_**. I clenched my teeth tightly together to stop myself from screaming or biting my tong off, because with the way that Fuji-sempai was driving both were equally as likely to happen. **

**Yumiko-san was shrieking with laughter and egging her psychotic brother on, which leads me to wonder which of them is actually crazier of the two the one that drives like a maniac or the one that wants him to drive like a maniac?**

**The tires screech as Fuji-sempai speeds around a particularly sharp turn and I am lurched painfully into the door, and I suddenly begin to fear that Fuji-sempai might actually be trying to kill me.**

**In a desperate attempt to avoid hurling all over Yumiko-san's lovely leather interior I curled myself tightly into a fetal position in the backseat while the giggle twins had a grand old time breaking all of Japans traffic laws. As the scenery sped past and became a blur the mind numbing terror that I felt when I thought about school melted away and was over taken by the mind numbing terror at Fuji-sempai's driving. Seriously I didn't know that it was possible for someone to be this bad at driving, I thought that things like this only happen in cartoons!**

**I know I'm probably going to be able to look back on this one day in the distant future and laugh, but right now in the moment the words "I think I'm going to die!" come to mind. In fact it became something of a mantra that I chanted under my breath as Fuji-sempai further proved why he should never be allowed behind the wheel of any vehicle…****EVER****!**

**Several flung trashcans and screaming pedestrians later the death trap that only minutes ago I had saw as a beautiful vehicle came to a screeching halt a block away from Seishun Gakuen. Fuji-sempai somehow managed to gracefully exit the vehicle without a hair out of place, looking just as pretty and perfect as ever. Me, not so much, I pretty much fell out of the car onto my butt where I stayed and tried to reacquaint myself with a world that wasn't moving fast enough to break the sound barrier. **

"**It was nice meeting you Ryoma-kun." Yumiko-san told me as she moved into the driver's seat. "You should come over to visit Syusuke sometime soon I'm sure he would be thrilled to have you come over for dinner sometime; I'll even read your cards for you." She then turned her attention to Fuji-sempai and said with a suggestive wink "He really is a cutie Syusuke." To which the replied with a noncommittal humming sound that left me feeling like I'm missing something important. But since I was busy trying to regain my equilibrium I didn't get a chance to think about it and before I could even think to ask what they were talking about she drove off leaving me and Fuji-sempai alone once more.**

**With Yumiko-san gone I chose to obsess about the other thing that she had said: "Cards? There are cards?" I ask him my voice a touch more anxious than I wanted it to be. There is just something ominous about the way that she said that she would read my cards that left a bad taste in my mouth. The only cards that I own is a deck decorated with heavily endowed naked women that Ryoga had sent me when he was working in a casino in Vegas a few months ago. Not that looking at naked women does much of anything for me; it's the thought that counts. I have a tendency to hoard all of the odd little trinkets that my AWOL half-brother sends me. **

**Fuji-sempai laughs warmly at my very apparent confusion and snaps me out of my reminiscing. "She means tarot cards. Yumiko is very good at telling fortunes, she never gets it wrong."**

"**Fortunes? You mean seeing the future and stuff like that? " I ask, I've never really been into the occult and new-agey stuff like that, call me a skeptic but it all sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. Though at the same time I could seriously see the Fuji siblings having some sort of odd superpowers, they're both just creepy that way. I really hope that Fuji-sempai can't read minds though, since I'm constantly referring to him as pretty and effeminate in my head and I really don't think he would appreciate it if he knew. **

**He doesn't answer me, he only gives me his signature creepy smile and walks off toward the entrance gate. I don't know why but the fact that he is essentially giving me the brush-off really ticks me off. **

**I think Yuuta is my favorite out of the Fuji siblings now that I have had the pleasure of meeting all three of them. He at least seems relatively normal compared to the other two, who break traffic laws in their free time and read minds. But then again he does hang around with that Mizuki creep willingly, which probably means that he is just as weird as the other two.**

"**You suck at driving!" A yell after him making him turn back to me. He has this subtly annoyed look on his face, and I get a kick out knowing that I can kick him off too**

"**You didn't have fun?" he asks me walking back over to loom over me menacingly with a smile on his face. I think he might actually be scarier than the guys that just wanted to kick the shit out of me. Fuji-sempai seems like the kind of guy that would throw you into a room with at moose if you pissed him off enough.**

**I don't contemplate this for very long, because I'm just happy to have his attention back on me. This is something else that I'm going to choose not to mull over.**

"**That is a resounding 'No'. I think the two of us have very different definitions of the word ****fun****."**

"**Saa, Maybe so." He sighed before abruptly turning away again, effectively ending the conversation.**

**God he bugs me.**

**Is it possible to be attracted to someone yet be completely repulsed by them at the same time? If so that is exactly how I feel toward Fuji-sempai, he is beautiful to look at but he has an awful personality. Sadism has never really been a turn on for me, I'm just not all that in touch with my inner masochist, and I don't really want to be… right now at least check back with me when I'm like twenty and I might give you a different answer. **

**Excuse me while I pull my mind out of the gutter. **

**Scowling at Fuji-sempai's back I pick myself up off the ground and follow slowly after him. He really does annoy me though, the way he always seems to be just one step ahead of everyone just pisses me off for some reason. **

**He passes easily through the gates not even looking back at me once. I stop short I try to move forward by my legs won't obey me. I'm stuck.**

**I can feel the eyes of other students on me as they pass me by. The way they look at me makes my skin prickle, and I'm suddenly reminded exactly why it is that I didn't want to come to school today. Fuji-sempai's horrendous driving managed to make me forget all about it but now that I'm standing here with all these eyes on me it all comes rushing back.**

**Everyone is staring at me and all their eyes say the exact same thing "Get out of here you freak." I physically recoil from all the silent hatred that is being directed at me. It's suffocating!**

**My heartbeat becomes erratic, thumping madly in my chest, each beat getting louder and louder. The world comes into a sharp focus and yet I have never felt more disconnected in my entire life.**

**What am I doing here? I don't belong here. Not here with all these people who would much rather see me dead than in the same school as them. What was I thinking coming back here? They're going to kill me! They're going to-**

"**Echizen."**

**I look up into a pair of sky blue eyes and the rest of the world falls away.**

"**Rule number four: They only have as much power as you give them."**

**He gently squeezes my arm before walking away, hundreds of eyes that had ones been fixed solely on me following him.**

**I think I might 'like' Fuji-sempai more than I thought.**

* * *

To be continued...

A/N: And here ends the chapter. I don't know why but I always thought that Fuji would be the type to be a reckless driver he's just so perfect at everything else. I feel bad for Ryoma though I just keep putting the poor kid in one life threatening situation after another though granted this one was less malicious and more silly. I kind of want to give him a break, but at the same time he is such a compelling character when he is in peril.

I believe that I have provided a suitable hint to Ryoma's future boyfriend though I am going to leave the pairing poll up for one more chapter.

Please Review!


	7. Her

A/N**: **once more a big thank you to everyone who is following this story, you guys rock! 

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**  
**

* * *

**All You Need is Love**

**Chapter Seven: Her**

**The words 'Die Fag' had been spray painted across my locker sometime between last nights practice and early this morning. The bright red paint had already dried making any attempt at removing it on my part completely useless, not that I didn't try, which leads me to believe that whatever asshole did this did it sometime last night. I can hear people laughing to themselves as they pass me by. For some reason they seem to find the prospect of my death hilarious. **

**What kind of sick person could find this funny?**

**Looking around I can notice with no small amount of surprise that everyone seems to find this funny, and those that don't just keep walking by completely indifferent to the fact that someone has essentially threatened my life. Someone wants me to die and no one seems to care.**

**Is it too cynical for me to say that I am seriously beginning to hate all people? None of them seem to have any feelings of empathy or remorse. It's like they think that another person's pain has nothing to do with them. Just as long as they are not the ones being wronged everything is just fine and dandy. It's just disgusting. **

**I mean sure Kikumaru-sempai and Fuji-sempai have both said that they have my back but still, they are just two people, two in a school of over two thousand! Is there seriously no one else that can see there is something very wrong with what is happening here?**

**Or am I just being biased because I'm the one that has a death threat spray painted on my locker.**

**It took me awhile to actually get up the courage to open my locker. Those two simple monosyllabic words shook me more than I like to admit. It doesn't even matter if they mean that they're going to kill me themselves or not, no what matters is that someone in this school feels so threatened by who I am that they want me dead.**

**It took a moment for me to straighten my thoughts out enough to remember my locker combination. The maliciously gleeful commentary in the background wasn't making things any easier either. **

**I finally managed to get the cold metal door open and for a moment all I could do was stare into the hollow cubic space of my locker. There was a pile of envelopes and haphazardly folded papers filling up its insides. They looked innocent enough on their own all crisp and white. Without looking at the words written upon them someone would almost assume that it was the scene on a Valentine's Day morning. Sweet and innocent love letters.**

**For a moment I entertained the fantasy that, that was what they were. But I knew better, the message that had been emblemized on the door was a dead giveaway. These were not love letters. This was hate mail. **

**I guess it must have been curiosity that prompted me to reach out and grab the letter on top of the pile. I don't even know why I bothered; I already knew what would be written on the paper inside that crisp and clean envelope. Maybe I didn't know the exact words that would be written but I knew that they would be just as harsh and as hate filled as the red spray paint. **

**As I had been walking toward my locker this morning I had seen a girl standing there. I don't know her, I don't recall ever even interacting with her once but she had been standing here right in front of my locker and she had reached up and pushed this envelope through the slot. That girl had been the one who wrote the letter that I now hold in my hands.**

**It may be masochistic but I want to know. I want to know what that girl who I've never met before could possibly have to say to me. I want to know; what is she thinking? What is she feeling? What makes her feel like she has the right to make any comments on my life and how I choose to live it?**

**With trembling fingers I break open the seal on the envelope and pull out the letter inside. I only vaguely hear the bell ringing as I look at the words that have been written out with painstaking neatness in a red pen. **

**There is only one line written in the dead center of the page, and in case you're interested this is what it said:**

_**Dear Cocksucker, I am going to set you on fire.**_

**The message is short and straight to the point and as I look at it I don't know whether I should laugh or scream. Because as melodramatically stated it is, the thing is…I don't know if she is serious or not. **

**For a few minutes all I can do is stare at this death threat as a cold terror slowly crept over me. All intentions that I had to go to class flew straight out of my mind. The note slipped out of my badly shaking hands and I stumbled backward away from it and away from the locker that contained more of them.**

**I read one letter and I feel like I'm going to throw up. There are at least another hundred left probably all saying the exact same thing. But right now I don't care about what they say or who wrote them or why. I just need to get away, far away from here where no one can find me. Somewhere that girl won't be able to set me aflame. **

**And so I run.**

**I leave my defiled locker open for anyone to see inside. The pile of hate mail that was filling it up was in open view of anyone who cares to look. And the one opened letter had fallen to the ground where anyone could pick it up and read it. Though I assume all they would do is laugh. **

**I run through fluorescent lit linoleum hallways. They were empty of students which was a small blessing for me. I dart around corners and trip up stairs. I run and I run and I run. Until I burst through a door way and on to the roof. **

**I collapse to my knees hard choked sobs welling up inside of me before they began bursting past my lips. Pretty soon I am wailing like a child, tears falling in small rivers down my cheeks and my nose dripping, I wrap my arms tightly around myself and begin to rock back and forth. **

**It's not fair.**

**This isn't fair.**

**Why is this happening to me? What did I ever do?**

**It's too much.**

**This is just too much. **

**I cry and cry and cry. I think I have cried more in the past two days then I have in my entire life. And I'm disgusted that these 'people' are able to make me feel so helpless, they shouldn't be allowed to do this. I shouldn't let them do this to me.**

**Taking a few deep calming breaths I manage to stem the flow of tears and regain some semblance of composure. **

**I decide that going to class would be an act of suicide right now and since I don't really have any desire to die right at this moment I believe that now would be a good chance to catch up on the sleep that I missed as I was worrying last night. Laying down on my back and tipping my cap to shade my eyes from the morning sunlight I do my best to make myself comfortable. **

**I know from experience that people don't usually come up to the roof until around lunch time and even then the chances of someone showing up are pretty iffy. Most people can't be bothered to climb the extra seven flights of stairs to get up onto the roof. And even then most days the door is locked, something that I have no problem getting around thanks to an older brother with questionable hobbies and a blond back stateside that had managed to convince me that breaking and entering was the most fun a boy could have. **

_**Let's not even go there.**_

**I wince at the thought of Kevin, he is after all part of the reason that I'm in this mess in the first place. If it hadn't been for him my parents wouldn't have been so frantic to get me out of the country. It just goes to show you; you can't trust anyone. Not really at least.**

**I spent the morning lazing about on the roof watching that clouds roll across a brilliant blue sky. It was the kind of blue that reminded me vividly of a certain sempai of mine. I won't lie and say that I'm not worried about him because I am. He had pretty much openly allied himself with the social pariah in front of everyone, and while I know that he is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but I can't help the gnawing fear that he is going to get hurt because of what he did for me.**

**I think I might be developing a guilt complex.**

**Time passes softly when you stare into the sky. The clouds move slowly, contracting and expanding to create monolithic entities that vanish in an instant. And I slowly drift off into a dream like haze, letting the expansive sky take me away from myself and my problems. All of my pain and troubles can remain on earth as I float away to my happy place among the clouds.**

**The tennis courts have always been the place where I could let loose and have fun. In my mind when I am on the court I am king and no one else can touch me because I am so high above all of them. It sounds arrogant I know, but its how I feel. Until coming to Japan there really was no one, bar my old man, that could challenge me on the court. Now it feels like I'm barely scraping by, by the skin of my teeth.**

**Sure up until now everyone has been cheering for me, calling me the prince of tennis if you can believe it, but still there is always this nagging voice in the back of my mind saying "Hey, didn't you used to be better than this?" and I agree with it, because when I think of all my games since coming here I notice that something essential that I used to have when I played is gone and has been replaced by this hollowness. I can't remember what used to fit in that space either which makes it even worse. It's like a big piece of me has been stolen away. **

**I want it back. Maybe if I had it back what's happening now wouldn't hurt so much. Maybe it's the part of me that's missing that knows how to deal with all of this. Maybe it's the part that has all the right answers.**

**Maybe it's the part that wouldn't have lost his best friend. **

_**Ouch**_

_**It still hurts**_

_**Let's change the subject now**_

**I angrily brush away the tears that had gathered in my eyes at the thought of Momo-sempai. I wasn't going to think about him anymore, because when I do the empty space feels even bigger.**

**I know I haven't known Momo-sempai all that long about three months give or take. But he was my first real friend since coming to Japan…Who am I kidding he was the first real friend that I've had in a long, long time. So what if I haven't known him since pre-k? I've spent more time with him hanging out and having fun than I had with anyone else in my entire life!**

**He was my best friend and now…**

**He's not.**

"**There he is!" The roof door slams open jolting me out of my sorrow and self-pity. I just have enough time to prop myself up onto my elbows before I find myself completely surrounded by a group a pissed off looking third year girls. I recognize them as some of the girls that come and make goggle eyes at Fuji-sempai during practice. They must be his fan club, and if they've been looking for me that means…**

**Oh shit!**

"**Okay, listen up you little faggot because we're only going to be giving you one warning" a rather beautiful girl with long dark hair hisses at me her face twisted with disgust and rage.**

"**You're going to keep your disgusting homo hands off Fuji-kun or else."**

**What.**

"**We don't want him to get infected with your gay."**

**What?**

"**Poor Fuji-kun doesn't need to be worrying that you are going to be molesting him at school."**

**What!**

**Do they really think that-?**

**They can't really be that-**

**I mean I knew there was going to be ignorance but this is just-**

**Stupid. That's what this is, it's stupid. But I don't really want to argue that with them singe they are at a very obvious advantage as there are more of them and they all have rather dangerous looking manicures that I don't want to be on the receiving end of. I remember what Fuji-sempai told me about picking fights and nodded vigorously at them, even though I am lying because I'm not going to let some bitches stop me from talking to Fuji-sempai. **

"**Good, now scram fag we're eating lunch here."**

**I'm gone as soon as they give me enough room to move. **

**I soon realize that I had given absolutely no thought to what I was going to do at lunch time the entire student population out roaming about without adult supervision all seeing me as nothing more than a diseased mutt that's better off dead. Yes it was very stupid of me not to think of a proper escape plan for lunch time. If I had it would have saved me quite a few bruises. **

**No one did anything really overt to me as I made my way through the halls searching desperately for a quiet place with no people. They were all really sneaky about how they came after me. A lot of them accidentally ran into me as hard as they could. Some of them accidentally tripped me, and the really brave ones 'accidentally' slammed me into lockers. **

**The result of all of these accidents was me feeling like I had fallen down a few flights of stairs. I don't even want to think about how many bruises I'm going to have because of this. I can already hear my old man freaking out, and I just know that he's going to call mom, and it's not that I don't want her to know, but she's already been working on this one case for forever already and if I distract her I'll probably be in high school before I get to see her again! And I really want to see her again, she always know exactly what to do to make all my problems disappear.**

**I finally manage to escape the hallways all together and slip onto the school grounds. I feel like a weirdo when I jump into the bushes when I spot a group of particularly large boys walking toward me. I really don't want a repeat of this morning, one almost sexual assault is more than enough for one day, so right now I'm perfectly fine being a weirdo who hides out in the bushes. **

**Once I'm sure that they are gone I dust myself off and start heading toward my other secret hideout. A nice little spot that is hidden by some hedges, it even has this nice wall that I can practice hitting balls against. This is good because right now I desperately need to take my frustration out against something before I lose it and just start screaming. **

**It takes me about two minutes to get there because I needed to keep dodging my classmates that that may or may not have homicidal urges toward me. And since I really have no wish to test how deeply their hated toward me runs I decide that the best thing I could possibly do was not have anything to do with any of them. **

**The moment I reached my destination I grabbed my racket and one of the spare tennis balls that I always have on me and,**

**WAM!**

**I smack it against the wall as hard as I could.**

**WAM!**

**To be perfectly honest I don't usually let my emotions come into my game, I prefer to keep tennis and my life as separate as possible. But right now tennis is a perfect outlet for my real life.**

**WAM!  
WAM!  
WAM!**

**I don't know how long I stood there waking the ball against the wall like a mad man only that when I finally stopped a dent had begun to form in the wall. Maybe I should let myself get emotional during games after all; if nothing else it sure increases the power of my shots. **

**BANG!**

**I slam the ball one last time before dropping my racket onto the ground and letting the yellow ball roll off toward the hedge. I'm sweating and completely out of breath but I think I'm actually starting to feel a bit better.**

"**Ryoma-kun?"**

**The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I hear the annoyingly high pitched tone of my stalker. Ryuuzaki-sensei's pigtailed granddaughter who's name always escapes me, one of the people I absolutely did not want to run into today or ever for that matter. Now to be fair I'm sure that she is a perfectly sweet girl, it's just that I can't stand how she always seems to be following me around uninvited with that loud friend of hers. And her crush on me is one awkward issue that I never wanted to face. Seriously though I don't know how much more obvious I have to be that I don't like her in that way than completely ignoring her.**

**Though I'm sure she's got the message now though, like the rest of the school, I am not and never will be attracted to ****her.**

"**Hn." I briefly acknowledge her hoping that she'll loose her nerve like she always does and run away all flustered. I really don't have the patience to deal with her crush today. I turn my back to her and wait and listen for her footsteps to fade into the distance.**

**Unfortunately it seems that I have become the poster boy for bad luck over the course of two days. So instead of leaving like she was supposed to she comes and stands right next to me. I have to stop myself from gagging on the scent of perfume that she has drowned herself in today. Giving her a sidelong glance I notice that she has also applied gratuitous amounts of make-up making her look more like a clown than the beautiful woman she was no doubt aiming for. **

**She shyly links her arm through mine and it takes all my willpower to keep from shoving her off. No matter how uncomfortable she is making me right now I really don't want to upset her, because all that would accomplish would be getting Ryuuzaki-sensei pissed off at me. **

**Why did my life get so complicated?**

"**Ryoma-kun, what are you doing out her all by yourself?" She asks me.**

"**Practicing." I tell her simply because the eccentricities of my life are really none of her business and if she really is too dim to notice there is a figurative death warrant out on my head I'm not going to tell her.**

"**Oh…Ryoma-kun do you think that I look nice today?" She fixes me with this painfully hopeful look and for some reason it makes me feel incredibly guilty.**

"**Whatever." I say to avoid damaging her fragile teenaged girl feelings.**

"**I-I got dressed up just for you!" She chirps happily, "Tomoka-chan says that boy's always like it when their girlfriends get dressed up for them. So I thought that I would do it for you."**

**What.**

**WHAT!**

**Girlfriend! Please tell me that she doesn't think that! She can't possibly be under the delusion that she is my girlfriend. Please tell me that I just misheard her or something! Did she completely miss the blowout at last nights practice? I know that she was there; she and her loud friend always wait around until the very end so that they can ambush me. There is no feasible way that she could have misheard me when I told the world that I was gay.**

"**You were very brave last night. I can't believe that you told such an enormous lie just to get Momoshiro-sempai and the others to stop being so rude. But that's just like you Ryoma-kun, you're so cool." Her shaking fingers dig into one of the more tender bruises on my arms making me wince.**

**This can't go on. I need to put a stop to this right now.**

"**I wasn't lying." I say quietly, but I know that she heard me because her posture suddenly went ridged. **

"**I am gay."**

"…"

"**I'm not your boyfriend, and I never have and never will like you in that way. I'm sorry."**

"…**liar."**

**I'm completely caught off guard as she swings me around to face her, and before I even have a moment to collect myself she is pressing her lips harshly against mine. **

**The kiss is sloppy, and she is wearing way too much lipstick which makes it taste disgusting as well. It only takes a second for the shock to wear off enough for me to shove her away from me.**

"**What the HELL do you think you're doing!" I demand vigorously rubbing at my mouth with my sleeve. "Did you not just hear me say it? I. Don't. Like. You!"**

"**But you have to!" She screams at me her face flushed under layers of badly applied make up, dark tear tracks decorating her cheeks where her mascara has begun to run. "I love you so much Ryoma-kun and you have to love me back! You just have to!"**

"**No, I don't. You have to get it through your head that it's never going to happen."**

"**But why?"**

"**Because I like boys!" I shout back at her. **

**A tense silence descends upon us. I glare at her, at this girl who had the audacity to essentially force herself upon me, and she glares right back at me. I take back what I said before about her being a nice girl she's just delusional.**

"**Have you ever tried not to?" She finally asks me.**

"**Not to what?"**

"**Have you ever tried not being gay?"**

"**Have you ever tried not being a girl?"**

"**What?"**

"**It's not something that I have much of a choice in."**

**She finally looks away and struts purposefully toward the gap in the shrubbery that functioned as the entrance to the secret, well not so secret anymore, spot. She stops just short of leaving and turns back to face me.**

"**It's disgusting you know. It's gross and wrong." She tells me in a manner of fact way. Her voice is amazingly calm considering she was screaming like a banshee at me not even a minute ago.**

"**Say's you."**

"**Say's me and everyone else."**

"**I hope they hurt you.**

"**Your make-up makes you look ugly."**

**With that she was gone. And oddly enough I feel rather satisfied.**

**This is the first encounter that even remotely went my way today. So score one for me, even if it was only me facing off against a desperately and delusional girl, but hey a wins a win. I just hope Ryuuzaki-sensei will forgive me for destroying her sweet granddaughter's hopes and dreams.**

**My life is starting to feel distinctly like one of those daytime soap operas that my mom is so obsessive over.**

* * *

**To be continued...**

A/N: Ryoma doesn't seem to have any luck around women in this chapter does he? Not that he's actually interested in women in the first place. But at least he managed to score one victory even if it was only against Sakuno. Poor girl, hopefully she'll stop stalking Ryoma from now on though.

Just a note for anyone that is interested the pairing poll is now closed and the results will be shown on my bio page. Thank you to everyone that voted.

Until next time!

Please Review!


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